That Malibu's Most Wanted makes The Jerk seem like comic gold is not surprising. There isn't much in here that you won't see coming a thousand miles away, and in fact, I only sat through the whole thing because I was waiting for a scene parodying 8 Mile that never came (I realized later that I was thinking of a scene from Scary Movie 3, which underscores the interchangeability of most lowbrow comedies these days). I do, however, have to give the movie some props for inverting the white-black dichotomy so thoroughly that everyone ends up accepting Jamie Kennedy as an honorary Negro, and not just that, but as the most authentically "black" character in the cast. That's some audacious shit, and it's helped out a lot by Anthony Anderson and Taye Diggs as a couple of trained actors who are hired to act like stereotypical black gangstas, but who are actually so "white" in orientation that they have to study for the job. It's amusing, forgettable, and more sweet than offensive. Kennedy's "B-boy" schtick flags quickly, though I did quite enjoy the climax, which features him getting shot in the ass with a harpoon.
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